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> You're off by ten. Agh, I need to proofread more. > That's technically true, but the members of independent commissions that are required by law to not be o

> You're off by ten. Agh, I need to proofread more. > That's technically true, but the members of independent commissions that are required by law to not be of the President's party are, by strong tradition, chosen by the other major party's leadership in the Senate, despite being formally appointed by the President. Pai was chosen by Mitch McConnell. It's a tradition, though, not a law, correct? Why leave in a tradition that will harm American consumers? > Not exclusively, it is a broader one of the Republican Party. Again, couldn't he have ignored this tradition and put into place an Independent/Green Party member? > Yes, he is. The way he got there in the first place was through a person of the other party, no? Is there a law in place stating that he has to promote a Republican, rather than a person of another non-Democrat party? ___ I do have to say though, I see your point in theory, minus the tradition bit.

dragonwriter 9y ago
> It's a tradition, though, not a law, correct? Why leave in a tradition that will harm American consumers? It's a tradition backed by the Constitutional rule that appointees must be confirmed by the Senate, and structure and rules of the Senate which, in practice on matters of appointment (for those offices for which filibusters have not been abolished in Senate rules), allow either major party, if unified, to obstruct appointments (and, additionally, legislation.) So, sure, Obama could have not appointed whoever McConnell chose—and had even worse legislative prospects and basically guaranteed a vacancy that his successor would have gotten to fill, while weakening a tradition that (given the way power is divided in the US Constitution) is key to various parts of the government functioning at all. > couldn't he have ignored this tradition and put into place an Independent/Green Party member? No. He could have nominated such a person, but they would have zero chance of being confirmed. If he chose not to nominate Pai, he would, to have any choice of confirmation, find someone who enough Republican Senators liked better than Pai enough to overlook the violation of tradition and snub of their leadership. Which might be possible, but probably wouldn't be any better. The President is not a dictator, and there are significant checks on his power in the American system.
Spooky23 9y ago
Historically, it has been important to have a diversity of opinion on an independent board with delegated policy making authority. These traditions are enforced as dragonwriter pointed out by the confirmation process. Unfortunately the modern GOP was a party with a narrow, declining constituency that was reinvigorated by a tidal wave of money, much more so than the Democratic Party, which is a big tent party with many different constituencies. Personally, I don’t think that a guy like Pat is fit for public service, whatever his beliefs. He’s too obviously close to past employers.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> It's a tradition, though, not a law, correct? Why leave in a tradition that will harm American consumers? It's a tradition backed by the Constitutional rule that appointees must be confirmed by the Senate, and structure and rules of the Senate which, in practice on matters of appointment (for those offices for which filibusters have not been abolished in Senate rules), allow either major party, if unified, to obstruct appointments (and, additionally, legislation.) So, sure, Obama could have not appointed whoever McConnell chose—and had even worse legislative prospects and basically guaranteed a vacancy that his successor would have gotten to fill, while weakening a tradition that (given the way power is divided in the US Constitution) is key to various parts of the government functioning at all. > couldn't he have ignored this tradition and put into place an Independent/Green Party member? No. He could have nominated such a person, but they would have zero chance of being confirmed. If he chose not to nominate Pai, he would, to have any choice of confirmation, find someone who enough Republican Senators liked better than Pai enough to overlook the violation of tradition and snub of their leadership. Which might be possible, but probably wouldn't be any better. The President is not a dictator, and there are significant checks on his power in the American system.

Spooky23 9y ago

Historically, it has been important to have a diversity of opinion on an independent board with delegated policy making authority. These traditions are enforced as dragonwriter pointed out by the confirmation process. Unfortunately the modern GOP was a party with a narrow, declining constituency that was reinvigorated by a tidal wave of money, much more so than the Democratic Party, which is a big tent party with many different constituencies. Personally, I don’t think that a guy like Pat is fit for public service, whatever his beliefs. He’s too obviously close to past employers.